Gintaras is a variation on the traditional top down triangular shawl, making it wider than deep so it sits nicely on your shoulders. The shawl uses mosaic color work techniques for the larger patterns (no carrying or stranding of yarn!). The only time you have to carry both colors is for the 2- color lateral braid, called a Vikkel braid, but you can easily pick up and drop the colors needed as you go.
The optional tassels give Gintaras a playfulness and the generous size allows for true comfort and a feeling of being enveloped in a comforting hug.

I have a piece of raw amber that my father gave me. A piece he picked up on the shore of the Baltic, where he grew up on a farm outside Klaipeda in Lithuania. This shawl is inspired by that precious gift.

In Gintaras I wanted to explore some of the baltic knitting techniques and echo some stories of my dad’s childhood and the traditional Fachwerkhaus architecture typical to the region.

The 1 color textural section represents the peat that would be cut from the old moor in big square tiles to be dried and used for fuel and warmth during the long dark winter months, and the mosaic colorwork bands are reminiscent of the structural, exposed beams in the Fachwerkhaus buliding style.

Gintaras means Amber in Lithuanian

Yarn
Brown Sheep Company Prairie Spun DK (100 % Wool; 256 yards / 235 m per 100 g/ 3.5 oz skein)
4 skeins in Half & Half (MC)
2 skeins in Honeycomb (CC)
or
DK weight yarn, (MC) 850 yds / 777 m, and
(CC) 320 yds / 295 m

Needles
US 7 (4.5 mm) min 32”/ 80 cm circular needle to hold large number of stitches, or size to obtain gauge

Gauge
20 st and 28 rows = 4” / 10 cm in stockinette st

Finished Size
84”/ 214 cm wingspan tip to tip, 33”/ 84 cm center back depth

Notions
4 Stitch markers
Tapestry Needle

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